Month: March 2023

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer NEW DELHI (AP) — The top diplomats of Australia, India, Japan and the United States say their Indo-Pacific-focused bloc is not aimed at China, but their latest words reflect growing unease over China’s influence in the region. The four foreign ministers, meeting in New Delhi, insisted the so-called Quad

By TED ANTHONY AP National Writer WEXFORD, Pa. (AP) — By the time the doors open at 4:30 p.m., a boisterous line of 50 hungry people is looping around the gymnasium foyer at Blessed Francis Seelos Academy. Their objective: to occupy tables on the basketball court and, for the parish’s first time since the pandemic

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian former Prime Minister Najib Razak has been acquitted in the latest trial in response to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund. Najib is already serving a 12-year prison term from his first of several corruption trials linked to the 1MDB scandal. On Friday, the High

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rallying Friday toward their best day in at least a month, as relaxing bond yields take some pressure of Wall Street. The S&P 500 was 1.5% higher in late trading and on track for its first winning week in the last four. It’s

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Switching political parties to be able to choose the primary in which a voter wants to cast a ballot is an old Wyoming tradition, one that has faced growing scrutiny as the state’s Democrats increasingly struggle to field strong candidates and Republican primaries often all but

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden exudes confidence as the next race for the White House approaches. During last month’s State of the Union address, he lured unruly Republicans into agreeing with him that federal entitlements should be protected. He’s intensified travel outside Washington, trumpeting job-creation in Wisconsin and steep

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have met privately in the Oval Office for more than an hour after declaring themselves in “lockstep” on maintaining pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The official readout of Friday’s meeting says the

By GABRIELA SELSER Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — A U.N. human rights groups said the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega executed at least 40 people and ordered hospitals not to treat demonstrators wounded in antigovernment protests. The U.N. Human Rights Experts Group on Nicaragua said the abuses constituted “crimes against humanity.” Ortega jailed

BEIJING A Hong Kong-based publisher who was arrested while preparing to release an unauthorized biography of Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been freed after serving a 10-year sentence in a south China prison. The respected San Francisco-based rights monitoring group Dui Hua reported Thursday that Yao Wentian, 83, was released Feb. 26 and returned to

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — At New Mexico State, the once-treasured men’s basketball program has been suspended for the season due to a fatal shooting and a gruesome allegation of locker-room hazing. Interviews by The Associated Press have found a deep distrust and frustration with school leadership. There have

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. militaries have announced they will hold their biggest joint field exercises in five years later this month, as the U.S. flew a long-range B-1B bomber to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea. The North has

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press CINCINNATI (AP) — Prosecutors have used the former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s own speeches, photographs and conversations against him as they seek to unravel the Republican’s denials of key elements of the secretly funded $60 million racketeering scheme they allege he carried out on behalf of FirstEnergy Corp.

By SOPHENG CHEANG and GRANT PECK Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A court in Cambodia has convicted opposition leader Kem Sokha of treason and sentenced him to 27 years of house arrest, the latest blow in a campaign by the government to silence its critics or drive them out of the country. The

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tesla will get more than $330 million in tax breaks from Nevada to massively expand its vehicle battery facility near Reno and add electric semi-truck production. The deal was approved Thursday by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo cited the benefit of

DEERFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Walgreens says it won’t sell an abortion pill by mail in 20 conservative-led states. The statement comes after attorneys general in 20 U.S. states last month warned Walgreens and CVS that they could face legal consequences if they sell abortion pills by mail in those states. A Walgreens spokesperson confirms that

By ASTRID SUÁREZ Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia is proposing transferring at least 70 hippopotamuses that live near Pablo Escobar’s former ranch – descendants of four imported from Africa illegally by the late drug lord in the 1980s – to India and Mexico as part of a plan to control their population. The

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday arrested two Kansas men on allegations that the pair illegally exported aviation-related technology to Russia and provided repair services for the equipment. Cyril Gregory Buyanovsky and Douglas Robertson are charged with conspiracy, exporting controlled goods without a license, falsifying and failing to

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation’s highest award for bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, will receive the prestigious Medal of Honor on Friday. The

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is expected to announce a new package of military aid for Ukraine Friday, including —for the first time — eight armored vehicles that can launch bridges and allow troops to cross rivers or other gaps, U.S. officials said Thursday. The officials said the total

DALLAS (AP) — Tornadoes touched down in Texas and Louisiana as a powerful storm system that dumped heavy snow in California pushed through the Southern Plains and into the Deep South on Thursday, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights into and out of the

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court issued a warrant to execute a prisoner even though the state’s new Democratic attorney general tried to withdrew her Republican predecessor’s request to carry out the execution. The decision to schedule the execution of Aaron Gunches came six weeks after Attorney General Kris

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former pro wrestler has pleaded guilty to a federal charge tied to misspending of welfare money that was supposed to help needy families in Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the U.S. Brett DiBiase entered the guilty plea Thursday and faces up to

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas is getting closer to overhauling its education system. The state House on Thursday voted to raise starting teacher salaries, help fund private and home schooling and limit classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation. The ideas are a top priority for Republican Gov.

By JEFFREY COLLINS and JAMES POLLARD Associated Press WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction. The jury deliberated for less

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lawmakers advanced a measure to limit where people can get abortions in Utah, banning abortion clinics and effectively requiring they only be provided in hospitals. After passing through the state Senate on a party-line vote Thursday, it now heads to the desk of Gov. Spencer

By The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wayne Shorter, an influential jazz innovator whose lyrical, complex jazz compositions and pioneering saxophone playing sounded through more than half a century of American music, has died. He was 89. Shorter died Thursday surrounded by his family in Los Angeles, said Alisse Kingsley, a representative for the

By DEEPA BHARATH Associated Press The Rev. Megan Rohrer, who was elected as the first openly transgender bishop of one of the largest Christian denominations in the country in May 2021, has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was forced out from his post after enduring several months of discrimination and harassment. The denomination, the

TORONTO (AP) — Nordstrom Inc. is closing all of its Canadian stores and cutting 2,500 jobs as it winds down operations in the country. The Seattle-based retailer has six Nordstrom and seven Nordstrom Rack stores in Canada, which will be shuttered by late June. Its e-commerce business will cease operations Thursday. Nordstrom chief executive Erik

By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer The online counseling service BetterHelp has agreed to return $7.8 million to customers to settle with the Federal Trade Commission for sharing with companies including Facebook and Snapchat health data it had promised to keep private. The FTC says the data included information about mental health challenges such as